Women's Tennis

Islanders Shake Off Rain To Topple St. Mary’s

Feb 10, 2012

CORPUS CHRISTI – The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi women's tennis team was dealt several rain delays on Friday, but the team shrugged it off to take a 6-0 and 5-0 pair of victories over St. Mary's at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center.

The Islanders are now 4-1 on the season with the wins, while St. Mary's dropped their first two matches of the year.

"There was good focus from our girls today," said Director of Tennis Steve Moore. "I thought we worked very hard on some specific things we need to get better at.

"We did a good job of controlling what we can control and not worrying about the rain or the delays in the match. We were ready to play when the time came."

In the first match of the doubleheader, the Islanders picked up a 6-0 victory behind a sweep of the doubles matches and winning all five of the singles to finish.

In singles action, the first to pick up a win was LeAnne Mascall with a 6-1, 6-1 score at the No. 6 position. Burges followed quickly behind with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 3, as well as Cicak taking a 6-4, 6-1 final to clinch the dual match for the Islanders.

Matuszak finished out her match with a 6-1, 6-2 score at No. 5, while Nicolae was the final match to end, with the No. 2 player taking a 6-1, 6-3 final.

"I thought Mirna was a great leader as always," said Moore. "I thought that Chelsea Horan played a difficult opponent and learned a lot today about how to play different styles.

"Mia Matuszak got off to a great start with a lot of tenacity, Sandra and Stefania were rock solid as always, and LeAnne Mascall played a very good match today."

In the second match, the teams started with singles and only played until the match was clinched.

Horan started the scoring off for Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, taking a 7-6 (11-9), 6-2 final at the No. 4 position. Matuszak picked up another big win at No. 3 singles, taking a 6-0, 6-1 final for her second win of the day.

Burges' 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 5 singles made it a 3-0 score, while Cicak's 6-2, 6-4 final at No. 1 clinched the match for the Islanders. Nicolae also took a 6-0, 6-4 win at the No. 2 position for the final point of the match, making it 5-0 in favor of the Islanders.

"I think this team has very high hopes this year," said Moore. "The key for us is to stay in the present, work extremely hard and get a little better every day.

"I felt like we did that today, and that has to be our goal in every match we play. This team has very strong character and leadership, we can reach our goals if we stick together and keep working hard like we did today."

Next up for the Islanders will be a road match on Feb. 15, in Lafayette, La. at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

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